USA: the Newtown shooting and access to mental health care

The Newtown shooting sparks mental health care debate in the US. Egyptian activists criticise the government through graffiti. And net users in the Philippines hope to ban Justin Bieber from their country.

USA: the Newtown shooting and access to mental health care

Since Friday’s massacre, which left twenty six dead, of whom a majority were children, in a primary school in Newtown, Connecticut, the debate on firearms control has been raging in the US. But online, the question of mental health care in the country has also been raised, as Adam Lanza, the alleged perpetrator of the Newtown shooting, has been described by his entourage as a young man suffering from a type of autism.

As a mother of a fourteen year old suffering from a mental disorder, Liza Long chose to speak out on her blog. “I am Adam Lanza’s mother”, she declares in this post where she describes her son’s violent behaviour and her fears that one day he may also commit an indiscriminate killing frenzy.

The blogger then speaks of police involvement, hospital visits and meetings with social services, who apart from sending her son to prison, don’t seem to have any other solutions to offer. The mother feels that it is time that the US reviewed its system for caring for the mentally ill and their families and to avoid tragedies such as the Newtown massacre.

The posting has widely circulated via social networks in recent days, giving rise to calls for a mental health care service reform, even though some net users emphasise the importance of not systematically associating violence with psychiatric disorders.

Egypt: protesters use graffiti to criticize the President

Whether to honour the memory of the numerous martyrs who died fighting for freedom or simply to express anger with regards the former regime, Egyptians make wide use of graffiti to comment upon and immortalise their country’s revolution, which has led to the fall of Hosni Moubarak. A method of expression which a part of the population is still using today to criticise the government.

As illustrated by these photos posted on Flickr by photographer Jonathan Rashad who is covering events in Egypt, new murals have recently appeared on the walls of Cairo, openly attacking President, Mohamed Morsi. Graffiti presenting the Head of State as an octopus swimming in a blood bath or accusing his security forces of sowing death among opponents.

When it is not through drawings, it is by means of unequivocal messages that opponents attack Mohamed Morsi. This tag in the capital explains to the President that the walls he erects to defend himself will not protect him from the revolutionaries, who will continue fighting for freedom as long as necessary. Here we see a message written by his detractors, urging him to leave power immediately and calling him an idiot.

The tags and murals are generally quickly cleaned off by local authorities, but they offer an insight into feelings of resentment some Egyptians have with regards the new government.

The Big Internet Museum

A museum dedicated entirely to the internet universe: this is the idea hatched by a Dutch advertising agency with the creation of “The Big Internet Museum”. A free site accessible to all and open twenty four hours a day, looking back in particular on the successive developments and improvements the web has witnessed since its creation and which should appeal both to those new to the net and to those born with the web and who wish to know more of its history.

Now trending on social networks

“Ban Justin Bieber” are the key words some Philippine social network users have been using in recent days. The young Canadian singer is accused by many net users in the country of being disrespectful towards local idol, boxer Manny Pacquiao, who was defeated after being knocked out last week. Bieber diffused online two re-mastered photos picking fun at the unconscious athlete. An unacceptable insult for fans of Pacquiao, who have decided to rally online to make the pop star pay the price for his insolence.

Video of the day

West Jet airlines surprised passengers boarding a night flight between Calgary and Toronto at the start of December. As shown in this video, currently diffused online, hundreds of air transport staff surprised travellers by organising a giant Christmas flash mob in the terminal just prior to boarding. A nice initiative which seems to have wowed those present in Calgary airport.